Mechanical stoker.



F. M. UNDERWOOD.

MECHANICAL STOKBR.

APPLIOATION FILED MAK a. 1913.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.Y

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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30 w. f; W m

F. M. UND-ERWOOD.

MECHANICAL STOKERl APPLICATION FILED MAYS. 1913.

1,091,406. Patented 1\z[.fu'.24,1914L 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

attomu F. M. UNDERWOOD.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

APPLIOATION FILED Mus, 1913.

1,091,406. Patented 19131224, 1914v 4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

@M @ya 2m/w @Honing F. M. UNDERWOOD.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

APPLIUATION IILBD MAYa, 1913.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

sl/vtmaooe o UNTTED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

FREDRICK MARK UNDERWOOD, 0F HASTIN GS, NEBRASKA.

MECHANICAL STOKER.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 24,1914;

Application filed May 3, 1913. Serial No. 765,354. y

whereby furnaces may be supplied with fuel and which may be readily moved from place to place as in power houses where a number of steam boilers and furnaces therefor are employed for generating purposes.

It is also my purpose to provide a stoking machine for furnaces whereby fuel such as coal and the like will be crushed or broken up to the requisite size and subsequently delivered to a furnace and distributed over the burning fuel in the fire box of such furnace in an even and uniform manner so as to fa` cilitate combustion and minimize the escape of smoke, cinders and the like from the A vstack or outlet 'iiue of the furnace.

Furthermore, it is my intention to provide a mechanical stoker wherein the crusher, feeder and distributer will be driven from a common source of power and equipped with individual operating means so that the speed of the crusher may be varied or changed independently of the speed at which the feeder is operating.

vI also aim to provide a. mechanical stoker which may be used for firing locomotives and traction engine boiler furnaces, as well as stationary boiler engine furnaces, and which will embrace the desired features of simplicity, efficiency and durability and wherein the component parts will be so arranged and correlated as to produce a compact 'machine capable of being transported or moved from place to place.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter set forth in and falling within the scope of the claims.

In the accompanying drawings,- Figure 1 is-a top plan view of a mechanical Stoker constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig.2 is a view in side elevation of the machine. Fi sectional view theret horizontal sectional view through the machine. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the speed changing device of the crusher.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the numeral 1 designates a receptacle or casing preferably of rectangular contour in horizontal section and having a substantially hopper shaped end 2 by means of' which coal or other analogous fuel may be introduced thereinto, such casing or receptacle being mounted upon suit- 3 is a longitudinal able casters or rollers 3 whereby the same may be moved about and transported from place to place.

t Arranged within the casing or housing 1 is a crusher composed, in the present instance, of crushing rolls 4, 4 keyed uponsuitable shafts 5, 5 arranged transversely of the hopper end 2 of the casing and spaced lapart vertically so that the rolls will be held in spaced relation such a distance as to break up or crush the incoming fuel to the desired size.

Located within the casingwithin the end thereof opposite from the hopper shaped end 2 is a feeder comprising, in this instance, a vertically disposed shaft 6 having the opposite ends thereof journaled in superposed alining bearings 7, 7 carried by the top and bottom walls of the casing, and a fan 8 keyed upon the shaft 6 immediately above the lower bearing and rotatable over a plate 9 suitably secured within the" casing and resting upon the lower bearing 7 and having the rear marginal edge thereof turned upwardly as atl10 and thence inwardly as at 11 and coperating with the rough. Fig. 4 is a adjacent portions of the side and front walls of the casing to inclose the outer extremities of the blades of the fan 8, the blades being arranged radially of the shaft 6, as will be readily understood. The casing l is formed with a discharge or outlet opening 12 by means of which the fuel may be thrown outwardly of the casing and into, a furnace under the action of the feeder. i

The numeral 13 designates a distributer or defiec'tor composed, in the present instance,`

of a vertically disposed plate having one edge thereof secured to a shaft 14 in some suitable manner, such shaft being journaled in vertically alining bearings carried by the top and bottom walls of the opening 12 and 1disposed approximately centrally of Such casing.

opening so that the 'distributer may lhave control of all the fuel passing from the Interposed between the'crusher and the feeder is a conveyer which, in the form of l' my inventionI selected for illustrative purposes, comprises a plate 15 arranged transversely of thecasi'ng or housing 1 and suspended by means of springs or other tension elements 16 each having one end thereof secured to the plate 15 adjacent to one edge thereof and the opposite vend fastened to. the side wall of 'the casing, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3. Theaunder surface of this plate 15 is equipped with suitable depending bearings 17 pivotally connected to the iiange 11 at the rear of the plate 9, while the opposite end of the plate 15 is disposed in the path of movement of the` teeth on the lower crushing roller 4 so that as the latter rotates to crush the fuel and throw such fuel onto the plate 15, the latter will be oscillated or vibrated in such manner as to f eed the coal into the feeder thereby enabllng the latter to picki up fuel and throw the same out of the casing by way of the outlet opening 12 therein.

In the present instance,the crusher, feeder and distributer are all operated from acommon source of power, while the crusher and feeder are equipped with individual operating means connected up with such source Iof power so that the speed of the crushing rolls may be varied relatively to the speed e be carried by bearings preferably carried by the casing and equipped at its opposite end with a worm 23 meshing with a worm wheel 24 keyed upon one en d of a stub shaft 25 journaled in bearings carried by the opposite side walls of the hopper shaped endportion 2 of the casing 1 and carrying at its opposite end a gearpinion 26 keyed thereon and meshing with a gear 27 keyed upon the end of the shaft 5 of the upper crushing roll 4, such gear 27 meshing with a gear 28 keyed upon the respective end of the shaft 5 of the lower crushing roll so that the crushingrolls will rotate in relatively opposite directions.l Suitable means is provided whereby the disk 21 may be moved over the friction surface 20 of the driving pulley 19 so that the speed of the shaft 22 may be varied relatively to the speed of the driving pulley. In this instance, a collar 29 is secured tothe hub of the friction disk 21 concentrically of the shaft 22 and formed with an annular groove 30 in which rest or seat, at diametrically opposite points, yokes 31, 31 each connected to one end of a rod 32 disposed parallel with the shaft 22, the free ends of the rods 32 being connected to lugs 33 carried by a collar 34 at diametrically opposite points. This collar'34 encircles a stationary sleeve 35 carried by suitable brackets and incasing a portion of the shaft 22 and formed with a series of longitudinally disposed apertures 36 adapted to interchangeably receivel a pin 3 7 carried by a locking lever 38. By means of this construction, it will be seen that when the locking lever 38 is swung in one direction, the pin 37 will be withdrawn from lthe respective opening or aperture 36 in the sleeve 35thereby enabling the disk 21 to be slid along the shaft 22 in a direction toward or away from the center of the friction surface of the driving pulley 19 so that the speed of the shaft 22 may be decreased or increased, the movement of the lever 38 in an opposite direction throwing the pin into the alining aperture 36 whereby the disk 21 will be locked against sliding movement' along the shaft 22. It is conceivable, however, that other means may-be employed for poses.

As 'previously stated, the operating means for the feeder 1s entirely independent of the operating means, just described, of the Crusher and in this form of my invention, the feeder operating means comprises la crank disk 39 keyed upon the shaft 18 approXimately centrally of the top wall of the housing 1 and provided with an outwardly projecting crank pin 40 secured thereto adjacent to the periphery thereof. To the crank pin 40 is connected one end of a connecting rod or pitman 41 having the opposite endv thereof pivotally connected with a suitable form of cross head 42 mounted for sliding movement upon superposed guide rods 43, 43y spaced apart in parallelism and having the opposite ends thereof secured to'standards 44, 44 uprising from the top wa'll o f the casing 1. To the lower end of the cross head 42 is pivotally connected as at 45 a rack rod 46 having the teeth thereof meshing with a pinion 47 keyed upon the upper extremity of the` shaft 6 of the feeder, a convoluted spring 48l being coiled about the shaft 6 and having one end fastened to the top bearing 7 of the shaft 6, this spring acting as a compensating agent. AThus, in therotation of the shaft 18, rotary movement is imparted to the crank disk 39 and such crank disk, through the medium shifting the disk 21 for speed changing purof the pitman 41 reciprocates the cross-head 42 upon the guide rods 43, 43 thereby 1mparting a rectilinear motion to the rack bar 46, the ylatter oscillating the shaft' 6 of the feeder so that the fan 8 is rotated first in one direction and then in the other. In the oscillatory motion of the shaft 6, the spring 48 compensates for any torsion or twisting action imparted to the shaft 6 from the rack rod 46. In other words, when the rack rod is at one end of its path of movement the spring 4S is contracted and placed undeitension so as to assist the rack rod in rotating the shaft in the reverse direction in the initial movement of the rack rod. On the other hand, when the rack rod is at its limit of movement in the opposite direction the spring 4S is expanded and when the direction of motion of the rack rod is reversed the spring reacts to assist in rotating the shaft thereby eliminating any twisting of the shaft inci dent to the too sudden reversal thereof.

In the present instance, the distributer or deflector 13 is driven from the operating means of the crusher and for this purpose a pinion 49 is keyed upon a. shaft 50 journaled in suitable bearings carried by the respective side wall of the casing 1. Fast upon the shaft 50 is a toe 51 adapted to rotate with the shaft and engage a second toe 51 carried by and depending from one end of a rod 52 slidably mounted within a bar 53 carried by the lower end of a hanger 54 suspended from the top wall of the casing 1. The forward end of the rod 52 is connected through the medium of a pin and socket connection 55 with an arm 56 fixed to the upper end of the shaft 14 and extending outwardly therefrom at right angles thereto. A spring 57 has one end fastened to the rod 52 adjacent to the vtoe 51 and the opposite end secured to the hanger 54. By means of this connection, it will be seen that as the worm wheel 54 rotates a similar motion will be imparted to the pinion 49 thereby rotating the shaft 50. In the rotation of-the shaft 50, the toe 51 engages the toe 51 and so slides the rod 52 against the action of the spring 57, the latter reacting to reverse the. direction of movement of the rod 52 subsequent to the toe 51 being relieved of the iniuence of the toe 51, thus the distributer 13 is oscillated.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, mode of operation and manner of employing'my invention will be readily apparent. It will be seen that as motion is impartedkx to the main driving shaft 18, the crushing rolls are operated to break up the fuel within the hopper shaped end portion of the casing, while motion is simultaneously transmitted to the feeder and the coal or other fuel conveyed from the rolls, the distributor operating simultaneously with the feeder and crusher to distribute the fuel, thrown out of the casing, over the grate in the fire box in an even and uniform manner.

It will be seen that the speed of the crushing rolls may be changed or varied irrespective of the speed of the feeder, while the machine as an entirety may be readily transported from place to place thereby enabling a number of furnaces to be fired or stoked by means of a single machine.

Ihile I have herein shown and described one preferred form of my invention by way of illustration, I desire to have it understood that I do not limit or confine myself to the precise details of construction herein described and delineated, as modification and variation may b e made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Although, in the present instance, I have described the Stoker as being movable from place to place so that a number of boiler or other furnaces may be fed from a single mafchine, I wish it to be understood that each furnace may be equipped with a mechanical, stoker constructed in accordance with the present invention. .t

I claim:

1. A mechanical stoker comprising a crusher, a feeder and means for conveying fuel from the crusher to the feeder and adapted to be engaged by a movable element of the crusher whereby the conveying means will be vibrated and the fuel delivered to the feeder.

2. A mechanical Stoker comprising a casing, crushing rolls journaled in said casing adjacent to one end thereof, a feeder within the casing at the opposite end thereof, and a conveyer interposed between the feeder and said crusher rolls and designed to be engaged by one of the latter whereby the same will be vibrated to carry the fuel from the crushing rolls to the feeder.

3. A mechanical Stoker comprising a casing, crushing rolls journaled in said casing adjacent to one end thereof, a feeder within the casing at the opposite end thereof, a conveyer interposed between the feeder and said crusher rolls and designed lto be engaged by one of the latter whereby the same will be vibrated to carry the fuel from the crushing rolls to the feeder, and tensioning mea-ns for suspending said conveying means within the casing and coperating with the particular crushing roll to vibratethe same.-

4. A mechanical Stoker comprising a cas- Ping provided with a discharge opening, a feeder within the casing, means for conveying the fuel to said feeder, a vertical distributer disposed within the outward opening of arm secured to said shaft, arod adapted for Y said casing and adapted to be oscillated v feeder within said casing, means for conveying the fuel to said feeder, a Vertical shaft journaled within said casing approximately central of the discharge opening therein, a vdistributer carriedby said shaft and extendlng outwardly of the discharge opening, an

sliding movement, a pin and slot connection between one end of said rod and said arm, means for sliding said rod in one direction and 4a'spring for restoring said rod subsequent to the action of said means and for operating said means to oscillate said'distributer.

, 6. A'mechanical Stoker comprising a casing provided with a'dscharge opening, a

feeder within said casing, means for conveying the fuel to said feeder, a vertical shaft journaled within said casing approximately centrally of the discharge opening therein, a

distributer carried by said shaft and eX- tending outwardly of the discharge opening,

an arm secured to said shaft, a rod adapted for sliding movement, a pin and slot connection between one end of said rod and said 35 arm, a shaft adapted for rotation, a toe fixed to said shaft, a toe carried bythe free end of rsaid rod and dispo-sed in the path of movement of said first toe, means for rotating said shaft whereby the Afirst-metnioned toe will engage the second toe and so slide said rod, and means for restoring said rod to a normal position successive of the action of said toe.

In testimony whereof I affix in presence of two witnesses.

FREDRIGK MARK UNDERWOGD.

my signature 4Witnesses:

D. D. DE VORE, AVIS E. DE VORE. 

